FSMB's pilot sees resistance in Ohio

The State Medical Board of Ohio pulled out of a pilot project designed to evaluate new education requirements, dealing a setback to the movement.

The proposed system, being developed by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), would require physicians to verify their ongoing involvement in lifelong learning as a condition of license renewal.

Each state has laws and requirements for maintaining licensure. In most, one must complete CME credits, but others only require a fee. The FSMB, which represents about 70 medical and osteopathic boards in the US and its territories, is trying to tighten the requirements through a framework it calls Maintenance of Licensure (MOL).

But the Ohio board voted to suspend consideration of the pilot. One member said “other instruments exist to ensure that physicians are properly educated, such as the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) of national specialty boards,” according to meeting minutes.

The board had received several letters from outside groups. Eleven Ohio medical societies and associations, including the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA), objected to MOL.

“The associations argued that Ohio physicians are currently proving their competency through board-required CME hours, government quality measures reporting, credentialing activities, and health plan quality measures,” according to a statement on the OSMA website.

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